Herman Cain skeptical about claims in new book on 2012 election

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told The Daily Caller Wednesday that he doubts the revelations about 2012 campaign leaks against him in a new book on the presidential race.

The new book, “Double Down: Game Change 2012,″ by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin blames the campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman for leaking rumors to the press that Cain had been accused of harassment by multiple women during his business career.

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, vehemently denied the claims. But the story and subsequent public relations crisis ultimately led to Cain’s departure from the contest.

Asked on Wednesday if he thinks that claim about Huntsman’s campaign is true, Cain said by phone: “I’m not sure what to believe.”

“I was a little surprised that they made that claim, that it was the Huntsman campaign,” he added.

The reason for his skepticism: the authors don’t directly source where their own information came from.

It’s well known that the authors allow a variety of campaign aides and sources to speak off-the-record and on background for the book.

“The way that they get their information is that they interview a lot of people and they try to get them comfortable,” Cain said. “They try to get them to loosen up. And the people that they’re interviewing, they say things or insinuate things and then the writers draw certain conclusions from that.”

Here’s the excerpt from the book: “After getting a tip from a donor, Huntsman’s researchers had dug into Cain’s past, discovered the first two sexual harassment claims, and fed the story to Politico. As they waited for Politico to turn their tip into a story, members of Huntsman’s circle asked each other when the ‘high heel’ was going to drop on Cain.”

It would be ironic if Huntsman was the source. During the campaign, the former ambassador to China actually lamented that the media preoccupation with the Cain allegations were keeping Republicans from talking about real issues during the campaign.

“Every time another accusation comes up, it diminishes our ability to stay focused on the issues that really do matter for the American people,” Huntsman said in November 2011. “And I think that’s a disservice to the voters.”